You might have often heard professional athletes talk about pre-competition routines, and how this mental skillset has helped them in their performance. Pre-competition routines are simple, but stunningly effective in putting your mind at ease before an important game/match.
In this post, I will be taking you through the nitty-gritties of a pre-competition routine and how you can come up with one of your own. Having a solid routine can make you the most relaxed player out there, even if storms come and go in your game.
Why Are Pre-Competition Routines Important?
Some of you might think that pre-competition routines are over-hyped or irrelevant. But, there is plenty of evidence which suggests that athletes who have strong pre-competition routines play much better than athletes who don’t.
When you have a solid pre-competition routine, you will find that:
- You are confident to face any type of situation that may arise in your game
- You are able to focus and concentrate better, even if there are numerous factors that may distract you
- You are able to cope with pre-game jitters in a better manner
- You are clear about what you want to achieve in your game, and do so with ease
- You have strong ownership of your game and your performance
Due to these reasons and more, sport psychologists work extensively with their athletes to develop a pre-competition routine as part of their first few interventions. If you are still skeptical about this, you can check out real-life examples of various pro athletes and their pre-competition routines.
For example, Novak Djokovic has a pre-match routine of a certain set of stretches and breathing exercises. On the other hand, Simone Biles listens to a particular playlist, practices stretches and visualizes her entire routine. Interestingly, a major percentage of athletes use music as an important part of their pre-competition routines. What music do you like to listen to before your game?
Steps to Create a Pre-Competition Routine
There are 4 main steps involved in creating a pre-competition routine.
Step 1: Identify your personal goals
Step 2: Incorporate mental strategies
Step 3: Don’t forget physical strategies
Step 4: Practice and review
Step 1: Identify Your Personal Goals
By identifying your personal performance goals, you will be able to make your pre-competition routine crisp and clear. Different athletes have different goals, based on their needs and past behavior.
This can be a little complex to grasp fully, and therefore, a consultation with a Sport Psychologist might be required. Drop a message to my email mindyourwicket@gmail.com for your free consultation today!
Step 2: Incorporate Mental Strategies
This goes without saying that a major part of your pre-competition routine should be mental strategies. Based on what your goals are, these mental strategies can differ from athlete to athlete.
Visualization, is one such mental strategy that is very commonly used. It is also effective in increasing your levels of focus, while giving you a relaxed feel before your performance. This paired with breath-work can be instrumentally fantastic for your game.
Some athletes also try goal-setting as a part of their pre-competition routine. This may sound contradictory to performance, but can actually give you a clearer objective and a solid game-plan as to what needs to be done on the field. At the same time, this may not be an ideal strategy for everybody to follow, since it can increase your pre-game jitters.
Step 3: Don’t forget physical strategies
Pre-competition routines also need physical strategies in order to be completely effective. If you look at professional athletes, many of them engage in some warm-up or the other before their performance. Warm-ups and stretches can be quite useful when you are trying to loosen up or trying to improve your focus. Furthermore, they can also prevent your muscles from tensing up, which is often a physiological symptom of ‘choking.’
You can also use certain drills as part of your pre-competition routine. For example, a basketball player may use two-ball drilling or a free-throw routine as a part of their physical strategies. On the other hand, a cricketer may use shadow-batting, or may also indulge in high-catching practice before they go in to play.
Tiger Woods, uses a specific pre-shot routine for most of his game. This has proven to be pretty much a very important reason for his success. Before a shot, Woods visualizes where he wants the ball to land. After this, he aligns himself some distance from the ball. In this new position, he targets the ball and then swings. This perfected and well-executed pre-shot routine helps him eliminate distractions and focus solely on the shot at hand.
Step 4: Practice and Review
The last step is to start practicing your pre-competition routine and keep reviewing to make it better. Your pre-competition routine should be used not only before your performances, but also before your training sessions. This helps in two ways,
- Your mind and body will get used to the idea of a pre-competition routine. You will be able to go with the flow without any reminders or cues, which becomes essential in stressful situations.
- Your practice will no longer be just a set of drills or maneuvers, but will become highly-focused on your actual performance. This reduces chances of choking during your performance. It can also help you train for particular match/game conditions.
The ‘review’ part of this step is to check for areas which might require improvement. Another important factor to remember here is ‘adaptability.’ Situations might change in the twinkle of an eye, and with that your pre-competition routine might also have to be edited. When you practice your pre-competition routine with flexibility and open-mindedness, you will also automatically learn to move on to the next step, in the case of any unexpected circumstances.
Conclusion
Creating an apt pre-competition routine is one of the most important steps for an athlete who wants to make it big. The steps in this post are explained in a short and concise manner. When practiced regularly and consistently, you will be able to optimize your readiness and confidence for any situation on the field. If you have any questions or need a consultation, please drop a line to mindyourwicket@gmail.com.
References
https://sirc.ca/blog/the-effectiveness-of-a-pre-competition-routine
https://www.sportingbounce.com/blog/pre-performance-routines-in-sport
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9374066
https://www.sprintproject.org/post/how-pre-performance-routines-can-set-you-up-for-success
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1750984X.2021.1944271
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00193/full
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